Real law. Real clients.

Your semester at the law clinic will introduce you to the area of immigration law. Continuing the previous clinic work on the remaining civil, foreclosure and family cases, you will work with Catholic Social Services (CSS) and Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (ABLE) during the semester on referrals of immigration cases. You will work on cases such as applications for United States Citizenship (naturalization), representation of immigrants who are the victims of crimes in the U.S. who may be eligible for U Visa status, representation of immigrant spouses of U.S. Citizens who have been subject to abuse and who may qualify to file a Self Petition (I-360), unaccompanied minors in deportation proceedings who may qualify for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status as well as representing the minor child before the State Juvenile Court in custody proceedings and then apply for SIJS status before the Immigration Court and/or Asylum and Custody redetermination hearings before the Immigration court for immigrants detained at the Butler County Jail. Clinic representation may extend to refugee families who entered as refugees from their countries and who are now seeking adjustment of status (green cards).

Many of these cases will involve immigrants who do not speak English. This unique experience, with the benefit of interpreters, lets students have the opportunity to work with these clients. It can double the amount of time to obtain information from someone whose native language is not English. This will put into perspective for the law student how difficult it is for someone functioning in an English speaking country!

Real experience.

Students in the Immigration Law Clinic, along with CSS and ABLE, undertook the representation of 2 families from the Congo. The clinic engaged the services of Swahili interpreters to help in communications with the families.

Spanish language interpreters were used in cases for Custody Redetermination at the Butler County Jail. They were also used in a custody case at the Springfield Domestic Relations Court's Juvenile Division in which custody of a minor child from Guatemala was granted to his older brother for purposes of applying to the Immigration Office for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS).

Law students also had the opportunity to meet with an Ahiska Turk through a Russian interpreter to discuss assisting on behalf of his campaign against the victimizing and persecution of Ahiska Turks from former Soviet countries.

What Our Students Say

"My experience with the Dayton Law Immigration Clinic was phenomenal. While there, I received the opportunity to sharpen my legal research, client counseling and interviewing skills by interacting with actual clients and solving complex immigration legal issues. However, the most rewarding component of my clinical experience was helping indigent members of the community with any and all immigration-related issues. For example, I was fortunate enough to handle the case of a hardworking family man who was in removal proceedings due to his undocumented status. My colleagues and I worked tirelessly to ensure he had the opportunity to continue working in the United States in order to support his large family. After several months of client interviewing, navigating through USCIS red tape, and communicating with immigration court system, we were finally able to secure his status and allow him to continue living in the U.S. with his family. It was a personal feat for me to see my client so happy with the outcome. The UDSL Immigration Clinic was my favorite and most educational learning experience as a law student. I encourage all students to participate in the program whenever they can." - H. Jouglaf '16